Apparatus for heating food products

ABSTRACT

Food products, for example, hamburger patties, are more rapidly cooked than with existing system and with reduced shrinkage. A cooking appliance is provided having a plurality of parallel spaced heat transfer fins. An array of projecting cooking grills on which the hamburger patty is impaled are thermally connected to said heat transfer fins. This composite cooking appliance is substantially immersed in a liquid heating medium so that heat is transferred through the fins and projecting grills to the interior of the hamburger patty. In this way cooking is accomplished in a relatively short period of time, and the amount of fat and meat juices that are melted or boiled away is reduced. A system for placing the hamburger patty on the cooking grills transports the patty to the cooking grills, then allows the patty to be impaled onto the grills.

This application is a continuation of Ser. now 251,905, filed Apr. 7,1981, now abandoned, which is a division of Ser. No. 909,795, filed May26, 1978, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,261,258, which is a continuation of Ser.No. 719,585 filed Sept. 1, 1976 now abandoned. Ser. No. 719,585 was acontinuation-in-part application of application Ser. No. 446,951, filedFeb. 28, 1974, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,996,874, which was acontinuation-in-part of patent application Ser. No. 190,254, filed Oct.18, 1971, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an apparatus for heating food products,particularly proteinaceous food, such as hamburger patties. Moreparticularly, the apparatus of the invention pertain to rapidly andefficiently cooking such products in fast food service restaurants.

Depending on how they are cooked, hamburgers are a delicious, succulentfood, and as a result, many restaurants all across the countryspecialize in serving this singular menu item. It is well known that theingredients which contribute to the unique taste of hamburger are thefats and meat juices. Beef tallow, however, has a relatively lowsolidification point within the range of 88°-100° F. and, therefore,hamburgers are preferably formed into relatively thick patties andcooked at relatively low temperatures to prevent the tasty fats and meatjuices from being melted or boiled away. Nonetheless, for reasonsexplained more fully hereinafter, fast food restaurants have found itcommercially expedient to use relatively thin patties and cook them atrelatively high temperatures in order to reduce the preparation time.

At the present time there are a wide variety of fast food restaurantswhich sell hamburgers and similar food items. Necessary to the successof such fast food operations is the ability to rapidly cook, garnish andserve hamburgers. It has become an accepted practice in the fast foodindustry to roll or press hamburgers into relatively thin patties,usually less than 1/4", in order to decrease the amount of timenecessary to cook them thoroughly. In particular, it has been found thatby reducing the thickness of the hamburger patties, the distance theheat must travel through each patty is reduced, thereby reducing theamount of time necessary to cook the meat.

Though tastes differ, it has been found that the interior of a 1/4 lb.hamburger patty must be heated to a temperature of 140° to 170°, whichtemperature must be sustained for 25 seconds before the patty isconsidered sufficiently done. To rapidly achieve this interiortemperature, the exterior surfaces of the hamburger patty are subjectedto relatively high temperatures, generally between 325° and 600° F. Forexample, by conventional means it will take 150 seconds to cook a 1.6oz. hamburger. The large majority of this time, 125 seconds, is used toheat the patty up to the flavor cooking temperature range (140° to 170°F.). The remaining 25 seconds actually cooks the interior of the patty.Establishments which cook hamburgers in this manner sometimes utilize anopen griddle which is operated by at least one attendant. As such,relatively large amounts of heat energy and a relatively large amount ofmanpower is required to prepare hamburgers in this manner.

During cooking on an open grill there is a tendency for the hamburgerpatty to crawl together, shrink in diameter, and become thick in thecenter. This not only creates an undesirable appearance, it also createscooking problems because the increased thickness requires highertemperatures, longer cooking time, or both. Increasing the cookingconditions tends to reduce the amount of fat and juices in the patty sothat there is not only a weight loss, but the product also tends to havea dry taste.

A popular alternative to the grill method of preparing hamburgers is theuse of a broiler having heating elements inside a cabinet or hotbox. Achain conveyor carries the hamburger patties through the hotbox, and byadjusting the speed of the conveyor, the thickness of the hamburgerpatties, and the temperature of the heating elements, the hamburgerpatties can be rapidly cooked to the desired temperatures with minimalsupervision. The temperatures of the heaters used in hotboxes of thetype described varies between 350° F. and 700° F., but since the heaterscan be disposed above and below the chain conveyor, the hamburger can beheated on both sides simultaneously, or consecutively. As a result,hamburgers are cooked by the broiler method in approximately half of thetime normally required by the grill method, and with a minimal amount ofmanpower.

Though the broiler method of cooking hamburgers is successfully used infast food restaurant operations, it is also subject to numerousdrawbacks. There are a number of variable conditions in the broilerwhich as a practicable matter must remain fixed; namely, speed of theconveyor and the temperatures of the heaters; and this hasdisadvantages. For example, it is commercially impractical to cookhamburgers of both thin (1/4 inch) and thick (3/4 inch) sizes by thebroiler method because that necessitates changing cooking conditionswhich is impractical.

Most importantly, both the grill method and the broiler method ofcooking hamburgers rely on the relatively slow process of heatconduction through the hamburger patty itself. Thus, while one must waitfor the interior of the hamburger patty to reach the flavor cookingtemperature range (140°-170° F.), the exterior portions are beingdirectly exposed to relatively high temperatures for up to 150 seconds.During this period of time, the fats and meat juices located near themore exterior portions of the hamburger patty are melted or boiled away,causing a noticeable loss of taste. In addition, a substantial amount ofshrinkage results, a factor of increasing importance in an era ofburgeoning meat prices.

For all these reasons, the hamburger prepared in fast food operations isoften characterized by relatively thin, shriveled patties having a blandtaste. In contrast to the hamburgers prepared in fast food restaurants,the hamburgers prepared in the home, where high speed preparation is notof the essence, are often thicker, juicier, and tastier. The primaryreason for this difference is that hamburgers prepared at home can becooked slowly at lower temperatures. The relatively long period of timerequired to produce such a product is wholly impractical for fast foodoperations, and therefore, compromise in taste and thickness must bemade.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of this invention to provide animproved apparatus for rapid, efficient, and economical heating of foodproducts, such as hamburger patties, as may be preformed in fast foodservice restaurants.

It is another object of this invention to provide a relatively compact,automated appliance for promoting the rapid cooking of food products ofthe type normally shaped into patties.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a mobile appliancefor impaling and holding a quantity of food, and carrying said quantityof food through a broiler.

It is still a further object of this invention to provide an apparatusfor rapidly cooking proteinaceous food, particularly hamburgers, with aminimal amount of heat energy and at a minimal temperature.

A still further object of this invention is to provide improved meansfor rapidly, and substantially uniformly, transferring heat throughoutthe interior of a quantity of food, particularly hamburgers.

Still another object of this invention is to provide improved means forrapdily cooking a relatively thick hamburger patty with a minimal amountof heat energy.

Still another object of this invention is to provide an appliance,having a plurality of projecting grills extending therefrom, forimpaling and holding a quantity of proteinaceous food, and carrying saidquantity of food through a broiler, and passing heat substantiallyuniformly from the broiler, through the projecting grills, to theinterior of the food impaled and held thereon.

Still another object of this invention is to provide an improvedapparatus for removing a quantity of food impaled and held on anappliance.

Still another object of this invention is to provide an improvedapparatus for engaging and disengaging a hot appliance, having aplurality of projections extending therefrom, used for impaling andholding a quantity of food.

Still another object of this invention is to provide an improved meansfor cooking proteinaceous food patty, particularly hamburgers by rapidlybringing the interior of the such patty rapidly to cooking temperaturesin the range from 140° F. to 170° F.

Still another object of this invention is to provide an improved meansfor carrying food through a broiler.

Still another object of this invention is to provide an improved meansfor rapidly cooking a quantity of proteinaceous food.

Still another object of this invention is to interiorily place allheated surfaces so as to entrap virtually all cooking heat and odors,thus reducing heating energy required in the cooking process by morethan 75%.

Other objects, features and advantages of this invention will becomeapparent upon reading the following detailed description in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to this invention there is provided an apparatus for impalingfood products on heating grills, and in particular an appliance forheating food articles having a plurality of spaced heat transfer finswhich are thermally connected through a movable mounting means to aplurality of projecting grills which are insertable into the food. Themovable mounting means according to one embodiment is a continuousconveyor, but in another embodiment of the present invention is areciprocable frame. A heating medium is provided which, through the finsand the grill means, heats the patty evenly and at a relatively lowtemperature. Finally, ejection means which fit between the grill meansremove the patty from the grill means following the cooking operation.

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of theinvention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself,however, together with further objects and attendant advantages thereof,will be best understood by reference to the following description takenin connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the appliance;

FIG. 1a is a side view of the geneva mechanism which drives the conveyorwheel;

FIG. 2 is a cutaway side view of the appliance in the position where onepatty is about to be pressed onto the grill array and a cooked patty isabout to be ejected;

FIG. 2a is a cutaway side view of the appliance in the position whereone patty has just been pressed onto a grill array while a cooked pattyhas just been ejected;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the conveyor wheel taken along lines 3--3of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the drive mechanism;

FIG. 5 is a cutaway perspective view of the conveyor wheel showing onegrill array;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the placer taken along lines 6--6 of FIG.2a;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the presser taken along lines 7--7 of FIG.2a;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the brander taken along line 8--8 of FIG.2a;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of the ejector taken along lines 9--9 of FIG.2;

FIG. 10 is a sectional view of a conveyor wheel of the dry modification;

FIG. 11 is a partially cutaway perspective view of a second embodimentof the invention;

FIG. 12 is a sectional view of the second embodiment taken along lines12--12 of FIG. 11; and

FIG. 13 is a sectional view of the second embodiment taken along lines13--13 of FIG. 12.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The apparatus of the invention permits the rapid cooking of thick, tastyhamburgers, of the type capable of being prepared in the home, with aminimal amount of heat energy, shrinkage, and manpower. Briefly stated,a food patty is passed onto projecting grill means so that the grillmeans substantially penetrate the patty while retaining the desiredpatty shape. The grill means are then heated through the heat transferfins so that the food patty is cooked evenly throughout its thicknessafter the patty has been subjected to a sufficient amount of heat, thepatty is removed from the grill means.

The appliance of the invention is mobile, easily handled, and readilypassed through a cooking environment so as to cook the hamburger pattywith minimal manpower. As a result, a hamburger patty can be heated todesired temperatures in much less time than is required by conventionalmeans. Alternatively, a hamburger of much greater thickness, includingthose up to 3/4 inches thick, can be cooked in less time than it takesto cook a 1/4 inch hamburger patty by conventional methods. In eithersituation, the exterior portions of the patty will not be subjected to arelatively large amount of heat for a relatively long period of time,thereby reducing the amount of fat and meat juices that are ordinarilymelted or boiled away. This, in turn, greatly reduces the amount ofshrinkage. Additionally, less heat energy will be required to cook thesame amount of hamburger meat. The apparatus of the invention is thuscapable of producing a thicker, tastier hamburger in reduced time, whilesimultaneously providing great savings in both meat and energy.

Referring now to the figures, an appliance 10, described in greaterdetail hereinafter, carries a quantity of food to be heated through acooking medium. Appliance 10 is specifically adapted to carry hamburgerpatties, though it can hold a wide variety of food items. In that formof the invention chosen for purposes of illustration in the drawings,the continuous conveyor is depicted as a circular wheel 12. The wheel 12carries a portion of food through the various stations of the appliance.At the first station is a plader 14 which deposites the patty on a grillarray 16 which is made up of microgrills, after which the patty 18 ispressed onto the grill array by press 20. A brander 22 is shown in thedrawings which has the function of imparting char marks to the patty.This station is optional and may be omitted entirely. The patty is thencarried through the heating medium which here is shown as hot grease 24.After the wheel 12 removes the cooked patty 18 from the heating medium,the patty is ejected from the grill array 16 by ejector means 26.

The conveyor wheel 12, shown in detail in FIGS. 2 and 3 is fixed torotatable shaft 28. Parallel spaced heat transfer fins 30 which aremounted on the inner periphery of wheel 12 can be best seen in FIGS. 3and 5.

Projecting grill means 16 mounted on the outer periphery of wheel 12 arein the form of grill arrays and, in the depicted appliance, are ofsubstantially uniform cross section. They are ordinarily ofsubstantially rectangular configuration, as depicted, and should bespaced between 1/4" and 1/8" apart. As seen in FIG. 5 the grill arraystake the general configuration of the patties to be impaled therein.

The fins 30 are preferrably connected to the micro grills 16 or, asshown in the drawings, comprise a single piece of material. Heatconductive material such as aluminum is used so that substantial amountsof heat which are presented to the fins 30 are transmitted through themicro grills 16 to the interior of the patty. Heat conductive washers 32along with bolts 34 and axial ring 35 retain the proper position of thefins in wheel 12.

The placer 14 is a substantially horizontal reciprocable platformcomprised at least partially of ribs 50 which fit between the mircogrills 16. In the applicance depicted in FIG. 4, the vertical positionof the placer is regulated by placer cam 36 which is mounted forrotation with drive shaft 38. Placer cam follower 40 is a conventionalroller follower and is biased toward cam 36 by spring 42. The placer 14in FIG. 1 is shown in an intermediate position below the dispenser 44which is of conventional design. The Hollymatic 200 Food Forming Machinehas been found to be suitable for use with the present apparatus. Theplacer 14 ascends from its depicted position to accept a patty 18 fromdispenser 44 and at the appropriate time descends to a point between themicro grills 16 so that the patty is left on the top of the grills.After the rotation of the conveyor wheel 12 removes the grill frombetween the ribs 50 of the placer 14, which grills now carry the patty18, the placer ascends to its initial position to receive the nextpatty.

The press 20, shown in cross section in FIG. 7 compresses the patty ontothe grill array so that the grills penetrate the patty from the one sideto at least about adjacent the opposite side of the patty whileretaining the desired shape of the patty 18. After the patty has beenpressed onto the grills, the presser moves upward to its originalposition. The vertical reciprocation of the press in the illustratedappliance is provided by rocker plate 52, which will be described indetail hereinafter.

Brander 22, shown in detail in FIG. 8, is used to impart desired charpattern to the upper surface of the patty. This pattern may be in theform of parallel grid, marks as in the illustrated apparatus so that thefinished product would look as if it had been cooked on an open grill.Alternatively, the retailer's logo may be imprinted on the patty. Aswith the press, the brander 22 is reciprocated by the rocker plate 52 towhich it is mounted. Brander calrods 54 are imbedded in the brander as aheat source. Alternately, the entire surface may be charred to thedegree desired for flavor enhancement or cosmetic appeal by use of aheated disc.

The conveyor wheel 12 is immersed in reservoir 56 containing hot fluidmedium 24. The fluid cooking medium may be a liquid, such a cooking oil,for instance, beef tallow, or a water base cooking liquid. A liquidcooking medium is preferred, and a water base cooking medium is mostdesirable. The reservoir 56 may be a simple tub as illustrated withheating elements 58 therein or may have circulation lines leading to andfrom a heat exchanger. A temperature range of between about 160° and220° has been found suitable. In the case of a water base cookingmedium, the temperatures may range from about 160° F. to 210° F. forrapid, even cooking and which results in minimal loss to the hamburger.

Patty remover or ejector 26 can be best seen in FIGS. 2 and 9 and isadapted to be associated with the conveyor wheel 12 and the micro grills16, while being independently mounted on rocker plate 52 forreciprocation. The ejector 26 has parallel ribs 60 which fit between themicro grills 16. As seen in the drawings, the ejector ribs 60 fit belowthe level of the micro grills. In this lowered position, shown in FIGS.2 and 9, the conveyor wheel 12 carries a grill array with a pattyimpaled thereon into position above the ejector ribs 60. At this pointthe ejector ascends to cleanly remove the patty from the grill array.Chute 62 is provided to remove the cooked patties.

The appliance 10 of the present invention may be driven by anyconventional means. In the appliance illustrated in FIG. 4 drive shaft38 is belt driven by motor 64. As mentioned above, placer cam 36 mountedon drive shaft 38 regulates the reciprocation of placer 14 throughplacer follower 40. The conveyor wheel 12 is rotated by drive shaft 38through a geneva mechanism. Geneva wheel 66 is mounted co-axially withthe conveyor wheel on rotatable shaft 28. The geneva cam 68 and drivepin 70 are mounted on drive shaft 38 and mate with and drive the genevawheel 66.

In the illustrated apparatus the geneva cam 68 and drive pin 70 areadjacent rocker plate cam 72. Through appropriate linkage this camcontrols the motion of rocker plate 52. Follower 75 biased by spring 76transmits reciprocatory motion through rocker arm 78 to pin 80 which ismounted to rocker plate 52 at some non-central point. This causes therocker plate to move on fulcrum 82. Through this rocking motion theejector 26, press 20 and brander 22 reciprocate radially with respect toconveyor wheel 12.

The operation of appliance 10 is fairly easy to understand. The placer14 receives a patty 18 from dispenser 44. As drive shaft 28 rotates,placer cam 36 causes placer 14 to descend so that placer ribs 50 areslightly below the upper end of micro grills 16. As the drive shaftrotates the conveyor wheel 12 through the geneva mechanism, the grillarray and patty carried thereon move away from the placer ribs 50. Atthis point the placer ascends to accept the next patty. With the press20 in the raised position shown in FIG. 2 the grill array and patty moveunder the press at which time the press pushed the patty onto the grillarray. The press and brander 22 are then raised through rocker plate 52motion so that the patty which is not impaled on the grill array movesinto position below the brander 22. The rocker plate then lowers thebrander to the position shown in FIG. 2a, and the desired char isaffixed before it is raised.

The conveyor wheel 12 then carries the impaled patty into the reservoirfor the cooking medium where it is cooked. The cooking time is directlyrelated to the speed of the conveyor wheel so speed control 84 isprovided to vary cooking time. Temperature control 86 regulates thetemperature of cooking medium 24 through heating elements 58.

Heat from the heat transfer or cooking medium 24 passes through fins 30to the micro grills 16 which cook the patty internally. Normally thefins will have approximately at least 20% more surface area then themicro grills so this creates a heat funnel action thus insuringtemperature maintenance within the grill array.

While FIGS. 2 and 2a show heat transfer fins 30 to be removed from thehot cooking medium at the top of the conveyor wheel, an alternateembodiment is designed so that the fin 30 will always be in contact withthe heating medium, for example, in the illustrated apparatus as shownin FIGS. 11, 12 and 13 the fins will remain immersed in the cookingmedium so to prevent any possible cooling of the fins thereforemaximizing efficiency.

The heat transfer or cooking medium also heats the outer surface of thepatty with which it is in contact. Furthermore, the grease transfersheat to the exposed ends of the micro grills which may protrude throughthe outer surface of the patty. Accordingly, it can be seen that thisheating of the outer part of the grills and the patty impaled thereoninsures an even heating throughout the thickness of the patty.

As discussed hereinabove, the flavor cooking temperature range, or thetemperature at which the inner part of a hamburger patty is actuallycooking, is between 140° and 170° F. In a 1/4 lb. hamburger of standardthickness this range is reached within 5 seconds. This temperature mustbe maintained for approximately 25 seconds so the conveyor wheel speedwould normally be set so that each patty is submersed in the grease for30 seconds. This setting would naturally be adjusted if the temperatureof the grease and/or the size of the patty were varied.

After the conveyor wheel removes the cooked patty from the grease, thepatty passes above the ejector 22 which is in the lowered position shownin FIG. 2. The rocker plate 52 then raises the ejector to the positionof FIG. 2a and the cooked patty is removed via chute 62.

Another modification of the present invention is depicted in FIG. 10.Most of the apparatus is the same as that previously described, theprimary difference being the heating medium. In this modification heatis imparted to heat transfer fins 30 by calrods 88 mounted on the innerperiphery of the conveyor wheel 12. These heating elements may bestationary as illustrated with a sliding but thermally efficientconnection between the elements and the fins 30, or may rotate with theconveyor wheel 12 with conventional slip rings (not shown) to provideelectricity to the elements. In this so-called "dry" modificationanother set of heating elements may be positioned on the outsideperiphery of the conveyor wheel to insure the even cooking of thepatties impaled on the grill means. These outer heating elements (notshown) would ordinarily be stationary.

A second embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in FIGS. 11,12 and 13. This appliance 90 operates on the same principle as the firstembodinemt, i.e., a plurality of projecting grill means are set in amovable mounting means, which mounting means carries the grill means ormicro grills and the patty impaled thereon into the heating medium. Inthis appliance 90, the movable mounting means is a reciprocable frame 92which is reciprocated through a cam and rocker arrangement showngenerally at 94. The micro grills are reciprocable with respect to thereciprocable frame as well as with respect to the stationary housing.Heat transfer fins (not shown) similar to 30' may also be attached toframe 92. Flow slots 95 are provided in frame 92 so that the hot grease24 has access to the fins 30'. Above the frame, secured thereto, is anejector, here a plate 96, through which the micro grills 16 fit. Bymoving the micro grills with respect to this plate the grills can beeither inserted or retracted from the patty.

A movable cover 98, including a lid 100 is provided on the top of theappliance, with the cover 98 sliding in groove 102. Track 104 with anangularly displaced portion 106 mounts rollers 108 which are rotatablyheld by an extension of lid 100. The lid may be biased by a spring (notshown) toward the end of cover 98 so that its normal idle position isthat in FIG. 11. The lid is of a configuration which allows it to fitunder the cover so that by sliding the cover all the way to the right inthe illustrated appliance, the rollers 108 move down track 104 to causethe lid 100 to seat securely on the appliance.

A frame cam 110 and a micro grill cam 112 rotate on the same axis andare driven by motor 113. The design of these cams is conventional sowill not be dealt with in detail. Individual rockers 114 and 116 havingconventional followers 118 and 120 and a common fulcrum 115 transfer therotating eccentric motion into reciprocation of the frame 92 and themicro grills 16' via fram rod 117 and grill rod 119. In the depictedappliance the grill rod is interposed within the frame rod. Thereciprocating parts of this appliance are situated in reservoir 56'which contains a hot cooking liquid, ordinarily grease 24. The grease 24is heated by heating element 121 which may be u-shaped. Liquid seal 122is provided to prevent leakage.

Heat transfer fins 30' mounted in the frame 92 are thermally connectedto the micro grills 16' and therefore increase the amount of heat whichis transfered to the grills, as with the first embodiment of the presentinvention. It is preferable that each grill and fin be one piece ofmaterial as shown. In this second embodiment the fins preferably remainimmersed in the grease at all times so to minimize heat loss.

In the cooking operation, the raw patty 18 is placed above frame 92.Cover 98 is then moved to the right so that the lid 100 is suspendedover the patty. As the cover 98 continues in its path to the right thelid extension rollers 108 slide down the cover track 104 so that the lid100 is tightly positioned over the frame as shown in FIG. 12.

Through grill cam 112 and rocker 116 the grills 16' move upward into thepatty which is held in place by lid 100. This position is shown in FIG.13. The frame 92, plate 96, and extended grills 16 then move downward asa unit into the grease 24. After the patty has been sufficiently cooked,these same elements move upward as a unit to just below the originalposition. At this point the grills stop moving upward. The frame 92 andthe ejection plate 96 carried therein continue their upward movement, sothe relative movement therebetween causes retraction of the grills. Theejection plate 96 holds the patty above the frame 92 so the grills arecleanly removed. When the frame has reached its initial position, thecover/lid unit is slid away and the cooked patty removed.

Of course, it should be understood that various changes andmodifications to the preferred embodiments described herein will beapparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications canbe made without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention and without diminishing its attendant advantages. It is,therefore, intended that such changes and modifications be covered bythe following claims.

I claim:
 1. An appliance for impaling a food product onto heatinggrills, and which is adapted to impale hamburger patties onto suchgrills, preparatory to a cooking operation, the combination comprising:aplurality of heat conductive grill means each of which has an end forinsertion into the food product, said plurality grill means mounted inan array and adapted to be inserted as a group into the food product; afirst zone for performing operations on the food product; a second zonefor the principal cookig operation of the food product; a container fora liquid cooking medium in said second zone; means for heating theliquid cooking meidum; means for moving said grill means so that saidgrill means will be located at said first and second zones; said grillmeans constructed and arranged so as to project substantially uprightwith said ends positioned for supporting the food product on the topportion during at least a portion of the time said grill means ispositioned in said first zone; placer means for positioning the foodproduct on said upright grill means in said first zone; means for movingsaid placer means and said grill means relatively toward and away fromeach other so as to support the food product on said ends of saidupright grill means; means for moving said grill means and the foodproduct relatively toward each other for impaling the food product ontosaid grill means; and means for submerging the food product impaled onsaid grill means in said liquid cooking medium.
 2. The appliance ofclaim 1 further comprising heat transfer fins connected to saidplurality of grill means.
 3. An appliance for impaling a food product onheating grills, and which is adapted to impale hamburger patties on suchgrills, preparatory to a cooking operation, the combination comprising:afirst zone for operations on the food product including inserting saidheating grills into said food product;a cooking zone which a principalcooking operation is performed; a plurality of said heating grill meansconstructed of heat conductive material having ends for insertion intothe side of the food product to be cooked; mounting means supportingsaid grill means so that they move as a unit; means for movablysupporting said grill means; means for moving said grill means tovarious locations including said first zone and said cooking zone; saidgrill means constructed and arranged to be positioned in a substantiallyupright condition with said ends located uppermost for supporting thefood product thereon during at least a portion of the time when saidgrill means is located at said first zone; press means for forcing thefood product onto said grill means; means including said press means formoving said grill means and said food product relatively toward eachother during the pressing operation for impaling the food patty on saidgrill means; said latter means further including lever means constructedand arranged for applying sufficient force between said grill means andthe food product so as to impale the food product on said grill means.4. The appliance of claim 3 wherein; said press means includes aninverted cup member for containing the food product during the pressingoperation.
 5. The appliance of claim 3 in which said lever means ismotor driven for moving said press means and said grill means relativelytoward each other so as to force the food product on said grill means.6. The appliance of claim 3 further comprising heat transfer finsthermally connected to said grill means.
 7. The appliance of claim 3which further includes a placer means for positioning the food producton said grill means preparatory to said impaling.
 8. An appliance forimpaling a food product onto heating grills, and which is adapted toimpale hamburger patties onto such grills, preparatory to a cookingoperation, the combination comprising:a plurality of heat conductivegrill means each of which has an end for insertion into the foodproduct, said plurality grill means mounted in an array and adapted tobe inserted as a group into the food product; a first zone forperforming operations on the food product; a second zone for theprincipal cooking operation of the food product; a container for aliquid cooking medium in said second zone; means for heating said liquidcooking medium; means for moving said grill means so that said grillmeans will be located at said first and second zones; said grill meansconstructed and arranged so as to project substantially upright withsaid ends positioned for supporting the food product during at least aportion of the time said grill means is positioned in said first zone;means positioned oppposite said upright grill means in said first zonefor containing the food product therebetween; means for moving saidlatter means and said grill means relatively toward each other forimpalling the food product onto said grill means; and means forsubmerging the food product impaled on said grill means in said liquidcooking medium.
 9. The appliance of claim 8 wherein heat transfer finsare thermally connected to said grill means.
 10. The appliance of claim8 wherein heat transfer fins are thermally connected to said grillmeans.
 11. An appliance for impaling a food product onto heating grills,and which is adapted to impale hamburger patties onto such grills, thecombination comprising:a plurality of heat conductive grill means eachof which has an end for insertion into the food product, said pluralityof grill means mounted in an array and adapted to be inserted as a groupinto the food product; a container for a liquid cooking medium, saidliquid cooking medium comprising a water base cooking medium; means forheating the liquid cooking medium; said grill means constructed andarranged so as to project with said ends positioned for receiving thefood product; placer means for locating the food product on said grillmeans; said plurality of grill means having spaces therebetween forreceiving said placer means; said placer means having rib elementsadapted to cooperate with said grill means whereby said rib elements maybe moved within said spaces between said grill means such that said ribelements may pass beneath the surface formed by the projecting ends ofsaid grill means; means for moving said placer means and said grillmeans relatively toward and away from each other so as to position thefood product on said ends of said upright grill means; and means formoving the food product and said grill means relatively toward eachother for impaling the food product onto said grill means.
 12. Theappliance of claim 11 further comprising heat transfer fins connected tosaid plurality of grill means.
 13. An appliance for impaling a foodproduct onto heating grills, and which is adapted to impale hamburgerpatties on such grills, the combination comprising:heating grill meansconstructed of heat conductive material having an end for insertion intothe side of the food product to be cooked; said heating grill meansconstructed and arranged to be positioned with said ends located forreceiving the food product thereon; placer means for locating the foodproduct on said heating grill means; said heating grill means havingvoids therein for receiving said placer means; said placer means havingrib elements adapted to cooperate with said voids in said heating grillmeans whereby said rib elements may pass within said voids and beneathsaid ends for receiving the food product; means for movably supportingsaid placer means; means for moving said placer means toward and awayfrom said heating grill means; press means for forcing the food productonto said heating grill means; means including said press means formoving said food product and said grill means relatively toward eachother during the pressing operation for impaling the food product onsaid heating grill means; said latter means further including levermeans constructed and arranged for applying sufficient force betweensaid heating grill means and the food product so as to impale the foodproduct on said heating grill means.
 14. The appliance of claim 13wherein said press means includes an inverted cup member for containingthe food product during the pressing operation.
 15. The appliance ofclaim 13 further comprising heat transfer fins thermally connected tosaid heating grill means.
 16. An appliance for impaling a food productonto heating grills, and which is adapted to impale hamburger pattiesonto such grills, the combination comprising:a plurality of heatconductive grill means each of which has an end for insertion into thefood product, said plurality of grill means mounted in an array andadapted to be inserted as a group into the food product; a first zonefor receiving the food product; a second zone for the principal cookingoperation of the food product; a container for a liquid cooking mediumin said second zone; said liquid cooking medium comprising a water basecooking medium; means for heating said liquid cooking medium; placermeans for locating the food product on said grill means; said pluralityof grill means having spaces therebetween for receiving said placermeans; said placer means having rib elements adapted to cooperate withsaid grill means whereby said rib elements may be moved within saidspaces between said grill means such that said rib elements may passbeneath the projecting ends of said grill means; means for moving saidplacer means so that said placer means may be operated at said firstzone for receiving the food product and moved to locate the food producton said grill means; said placer means constructed and arranged so as toreceive and support the food product during at least a portion of thetime said placer means in positioned in said first zone; meanspositioned opposite said grill means in said second zone for containingthe food product therebetween; and means for moving said latter meansand said grill means relatively toward each other for impaling the foodproduct onto said grill means.